Unanswered questions at Dulles Airport
Edward Hasbrouck took a plane out of Dulles Airport in mid-May. This is his account of the hassles he encountered when he questioned some random non-TSA, non-police, people who demanded to see his identification. [cafe]
Like most travel writers, I avoid identifying myself as such. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle of journalism is that people tell different stories when they know that what they say or do may appear in print.
Normally, that's not a problem. If people don't like what I'm doing, they say so by words or gestures, and I stop. I smile apologetically. They smile (usually), and in any case I go on about my business and my journey.
I've been asked to leave places where I didn't see the "off limits" signs (if there were any), or they weren't in any language I could understand. And I've been asked to stop taking photos.
But never, anywhere in the world -- including a fairly wide variety of police states -- have I been threatened with arrrest while travelling, merely for asking questions about what was happening.
Until last month, at Dulles Airport outside Washington, DC, USA.
Response from the TSA
I've gotten a response from the TSA, although it avoids the most important issues, and raises at least as as many new questions as it answers. See my follow-up article, Dialogue with the TSA Privacy Officer.
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